The Perfect Meal
by Miss Dominique
Summary: SPOILERS It's Tonks' first day as a wife and when Remus leaves the house on Order business, she decides to cook supper for him... MINOR LANGUAGE


"Good morning, Mr. Lupin," sang Nymphadora Tonks Lupin to her new husband. This morning her hair was short and her favorite shade of pink. It represented her perfectly; Tonks was bright, cheerful and bubbly.

"Did you sleep well, Mrs. Lupin?" asked Remus, pouring himself some coffee.

"Why, yes I did, Mr. Lupin." A smile appeared on Nymphadora's heart-shaped face.

"So, Dora, have you heard from your parents yet?" Remus questioned his wife seriously.

"Not yet, Remus. I'm sure that they'll write soon, though," answered Nymphadora, thinking about why her parents hadn't written to her and her new husband. Had something happened to them?

"I've been wondering about something, Dora. Should everyone start calling you 'Lupin' instead of 'Tonks'?" joked Remus to break the tension.

"I prefer 'Tonks'," chuckled his wife. She disliked her first name and preferred to be known as 'Dora' or 'Tonks'.

"What is my favorite Metamorphagus up to today?"

Tonks answered mysteriously: "It's a surprise."

"I'm off to the Burrow. Kingsley needs me to help him with something for the Order."

"Oh, alright, then. Be careful, Remus," Tonks sighed; the couple were both members of the Order of the Phoenix and were already used to being separated for days or even months, though it became quite tiring sometimes. She gave her husband a peck on the lips before he headed out the front door of their country cottage.

Tonks stared at the oak door for several moments after Remus had left. She shook her head and walked back to the kitchen to pour herself some black coffee.

Once she had taken a few sips of it, Tonks went upstairs to her room to find a cookbook. She scanned the bookcase near the window for the book her mother had given her a few years before. She finally found it and settled down in a small cozy armchair to find a recipe that her husband would enjoy (chicken).

Since it was Tonks' first day as a wife, she had decided to cook a special early supper for Remus. She figured it would be easy; Remus was easy enough to please.

Tonks looked through the table of contents to find the recipe she wanted. "Rosemary chicken, rosemary chicken…" she muttered, moving her finger across the page. "Page four hundred forty-one," she said aloud as she turned to the right page.

It looked simple enough. She obviously needed rosemary and a chicken. The rosemary would be easy to find, as she grew some in the garden out in the back. There was one thing she had forgotten to do, though. Tonks hadn't defrosted the chicken yet.

Smacking herself on the forehead, Tonks got to work. She went outside to her garden to pick the rosemary she needed. She tripped on her way back inside, falling down into a pond.

"Shit," said Tonks loudly, pushing her sopping wet hair out of her blue eyes. She looked down at herself, seeing a very wet bathrobe clinging to her cold skin. "Ugh." She wiggled her toes in her fuzzy slippers, hearing the sound of the water swishing inside. Tonks felt her nose. She withdrew her hand quickly, as she felt blood. Taking out her wand, Tonks said: "Epipsky." Her nose healed. Tonks kept her wand out and pointed to her bathrobe. She waved it lazily and her robe dried, becoming steamy.

In front of a mirror inside, Tonks did the same to her hair. Steam rose out of it. Tonks, being a Metamorphagus, could change her appearance at will. Having an amusing thought, Tonks closed her eyes tightly and a picture of herself with spiky hair remained planted in her mind. She opened her eyes and laughed; it now looked like her head was on fire, her hair having changed color.

Tonks changed her hair back to neon pink and, remembering the rosemary she had in her hand, went back into the kitchen.

Dora put the rosemary on the marble counter. The freezer was near the oven. Treading carefully so she wouldn't trip again, the Metamorphagus took out the chicken and brought it to the sink.

Tonks watched the chicken in the sink as she had done the door earlier. She checked what time it was. Already almost an hour had passed! She decided that the defrosting process was too slow and Tonks called on magic to hurry it up a bit. She flicked her wand at the poultry enthusiastically.

"Now that's better," she said to herself, as water began to appear near the chicken; it was melting. But soon the chicken grew very hot, a fact she didn't realize until she picked it up to put it in a plate.

"Shit," she said for the second time that day, dropping the chicken on the floor and licking her fingers.

Tonks looked down at her feet and saw the wet chicken near them, now covered in a few pink hairs and some dust.

"Tergeo," she grumbled, siphoning off some of the dirt off the would-have-been main course. It was still dirty because Tonks wasn't very good at household spells.

Tonks checked the time again. There wasn't enough of it left to let another chicken defrost the non-magic way. Tonks scratched her chin and threw the chicken out.

The very upset Tonks went through the cookbook again. She found no chicken recipes that she could prepare in time for Remus' arrival.

Tonks laid the book down beside her. She walked to the small refrigerator and looked for a replacement for the chicken now lying in the garbage.

"That's not a bad idea," she commented, grabbing some plain white rice from behind a carton of milk. "If I warm this up, it'll be alright," she reassured herself quietly.

Closing the refrigerator door, with her left foot, Tonks put the rice in the counter, as not to forget about it later.

She wiped her hands on her robe. Tonks stuck her head in a cabinet, looking for anything edible. She was that desperate.

"A can of soup comes to the rescue," Tonks told herself sarcastically. She poured the soup in a pot and put it on the stove. She pointed her wand at a knob and turned it, turning the stovetop on.

"Remus likes a bit of spice in his soup," Tonks remembered suddenly. She found some ans sprinkled a little in the pot. Tonks put the remaining spice on a shelf over the stove.

She searched the very same shelf for some flour to bake a cake. By accident, she knocked over the spice and a large quantity of it fell in the soup.

Tonks cursed. She had nothing else to feed her husband; the rice and soup were her last resorts and she couldn't serve rice alone. Already rice and soup was a weird combo. _Maybe he likes his soup spicy?_ Tonks thought desperately, after making her decision. The soup would have to stay. She also figured that she shouldn't make a cake, either. She'd probably just ruin it, anyway.

Tonks started to set the table. She draped it with a burgundy tablecloth and placed a candle in the center of the table. She took two bowls from a cupboard and some cutlery from a drawer and put them on the table.

Tonks admired her handiwork and went upstairs to get dressed. She only had two dresses: the plain white wedding one and a purple strapless one. She chose the latter, finding a necklace to put around her neck.

"I'm coming home." A silvery wolf spoke as it came soaring through her bedroom window. Remus' Patronus dissolved into nothing, leaving Tonks panicking.

Tonks ran downstairs to pour the soup into the bowls and to warm up the rice. She placed them on the table just in time for Remus' arrival.

"Hello, Dora," he said.

"How was it, Remus?" Tonks asked.

"It was alright, but, wow, Dora, you look great!" Remus exclaimed.

"Thank you," Tonks said, smoothing out a wrinkle in her dress.

"Did you do this for me?" Remus looked past his wife at the table.

"Of course I did. I didn't think anyone else lived here," Tonks joked. "Anyway, try it."

Remus obeyed and tasted the soup and the rice.

"They aren't very good, are they?" asked Tonks, her smile fading.

"It's the best meal I've ever had," answered Remus.

"It can't be. I mean, I tried to make you chicken, but it fell on the floor, so I had to replace it with soup and rice. But by accident, the bottle of spice fell from the shelf and it all went into the soup. The rice is plain, it had no flavor. I don't see how it could be the best meal you've ever had." Tonks said this all very quickly.

"It is. I'm sharing it with you," Remus explained simply. He stood up, pulled her toward him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her.

Tonks kissed him back. Remus was the only person she lived for, the only one who could cheer her up in the blink of an eye, who could put a smile on her face in seconds, her lover.

They broke apart and Tonks grinned sheepishly. "I love you, too, Mr. Lupin."


End file.
